v2.0 Release Notes *Updated (4/28/17)

LakeStone
LakeStone Posts: 1,377 Community Moderator
edited April 2017 in MtGPQ General Discussion

Hi Everyone –

Before diving into the Final Release Notes, we wanted to bring up a few topics relating to the maintenance.

Trial of the Planes Maintenance Refund

Since we started maintenance during the Trial of the Planes event, and had to cancel due to a change in the matchmaking process, we are refunding 100 Mana Crystals to every player who entered it before the maintenance started.

The event will restart after the maintenance ends, and will run as usual until its normally scheduled end time.

We are sorry about any problems this might cause.

Quick Battle Rewards

As we proceed with replacing Quick Battle with Training Grounds, rewards for the very last Quick Battle will be delivered to each player’s inbox, based on their leaderboard position at the time of maintenance.

Now that we've talked about the maintenance, without further ado, here are the Release notes for the Magic: The Gathering – Puzzle Quest v2.0 update!  

New Features / Content

New Feature: Event Decks

Event Decks are a brand new feature we are introducing to the game.

When you designate a Planeswalker to a node, you will now be asked to set an Event Deck with that node, in addition to the Planeswalker. This lets us do two things:

  1. Match you against decks made for this event
  2. Ensure that your deck fits within the deck building restriction for the event.

That’s right - you will now only fight decks made for the current event, and no longer a random selection from your opponent’s roster. This means that in events that require playing specific creature types, for example, your opponent will have had to make the same choices you did when selecting your deck. We hope this will make these events more fair in that you will not have to fight decks that are clearly not made to fit with the requirements in mind.

New feature: Deck Slots

You can now own multiple deck slots per Planeswalker! This long-requested feature finally makes it’s appearance in the game.

The multiple deck slots you can own should make playing in events a breeze - you can set a deck, then copy it for an event without having to rebuild it. Multiple decks can be saved per Planeswalker to quicken your entry into events.

You can buy 2 extra deck slots per Planeswalker. Each of these has a specific cost - one costs 200 Mana Crystals and the other costs 45000 Runes but requires the Planeswalker to be level 60.

You can buy them in any order you choose, so you have full freedom with how you access them.

New feature: Theme Decks

Each Planeswalker now also has access to theme decks. Theme decks are special pre-built decks that you build towards - you need all the cards from a theme deck to use it. Each theme deck is built to be usable, be it in early game, mid game or late game, depending on the deck.

Themes decks are not purchasable outright - you only need to gather all the cards through card packs to complete them.

Initially, only the Kaladesh Planeswalkers have a theme deck for every stage of the game - older Planeswalkers currently only have a theme deck for the early game, featuring cards from their expansions. We will eventually fill out the decks for the older Planeswalkers, but we wanted to give all the attention to the current ones. You might have seen the contest we were running in the forums - this is what it was for!

We wanted to implement this feature as another tool to help newer players, who can feel overwhelmed and confused by the large choices they can make while building their decks. Using a theme deck will help these players in understanding the game, how it works, how card synergy works and eventually how to build around them to make awesome decks. Building custom decks can be very daunting for new players, so we wanted this to be a way to ease them into the process.It also helps in directing them away from editing their own decks, which can be very daunting.

As a little bonus, whenever you complete a theme deck, you’ll get a small reward, based on the deck tier. Late-game decks will grant Mana Jewels upon completion!

New feature: Auto-fill decks

We also added a brand new feature to the deck editor: Auto Fill! You can now tap the Auto Fill button to try and fill your deck with the best cards you own, based on your Planeswalker’s restrictions.

The goal of this feature was mainly to help newer players who have a harder time building decks - they will easily be able to play with their cards using this new feature.

Quick Battle changes

We have removed Quick Battle and replaced it with a new daily event called Training Grounds.

The Training Grounds is a new event that resets every day with progression rewards that will quickly grant you Mana Runes, after a low number of fights. You can still play as much as you want in it, but the progression rewards cap out and the amount of Mana Runes you will get from prolonged play will no longer be as high as they used to be. The Training Grounds fights will not feature any leaderboards or additional objectives - we want this to be a low-stress environment where you can test your decks against other opponents.

We know this change might be controversial, so we wanted to take the time to fully explain the decision.

First off, the initial intent of Quick Battle was to provide a game area where players could test out decks in a safe environment, away from the pressures of Coalition Challenges and hard PvP events. We unfortunately failed in this, and Quick Battle instead became an area where players just enter to grind out Mana Runes. Very few can reach the top, and the mode became discouraging to newer players. This change rectifies that - since rewards cap out quickly, you shouldn’t feel forced to participate in Quick Battle and there are no downsides from just playing it a bit every day to test out your new decks.

Secondly, there is a clear unbalance in Mana Runes from top players compared to new players. Newer players have a very hard time getting Mana Runes in a timely fashion, and this hurts their Planeswalker progression as they play the game. At the same time, since Quick Battle was so skewed towards the top players, those players gained a LOT of Mana Runes, which in turn made it rather useless for them. The change to the Training Grounds makes it fair for everyone - everyone can get the same amount of Mana Runes quickly every day, and as they are far more valuable in the early game, this will greatly help newer players. This unfortunately means top players will not amass as many Mana Runes as they used to, but as their coffers are already very full, it shouldn’t be a major problem.

Last but not least, we are moving away from the internal technology we used for the Quick Battle. We are moving everything to our new Events technology, which is more stable and much more flexible, letting us make changes much more easily than what the old Quick Battle let us do.

Other game additions

We are also working hard on improving multiple aspects of the game - we wanted to give you folks a non-exhaustive list of features we have improved on to make the game better.

  • New UI for the Planeswalkers menu
    • The Planeswalkers are now viewed as a grid instead of a scrolling view
    • When tapping on a Planeswalker, you can now see the decks you own for them, including theme decks, as well as their abilities and story in three tabs.
    • The Planeswalkers menu also features a new tab called Decks, where you can view all the decks you’ve unlocked.
    • You can now purchase a Planeswalker straight from the Planeswalker view if it is available in the Vault instead of navigating to the Vault
  • The pre-fight Planeswalker selection screen has been improved
    • You now see objectives for the fight before entering it (no more surprises)!
  • 10 cards are now visible in the deck editor (you can now see your entire deck in it)
  • There are now confirmation prompts on every purchase button in the game
  • Trial of the Planes events now have 2 charges instead of 3 on each node. *New Update*


Changelog (Planeswalkers & Cards)

We are making a change to Baral, Chief of Compliance: He now gives 4 mana to each spell in your hand at the beginning of your turn, instead of giving mana to a spell when you draw it. This change will remove the infinite cycling ability Baral has while keeping his strong affinity for spells.

We also explored removing the card draw from it, but it would change the card too much. We still want it to be a major spell driver and help you cycle your spells, and if we removed the draw it would lose a lot of it’s potential.

The card’s cost will remain unaffected.


System Improvements

Game-wide responsiveness has been improved. The game also features better memory management and there are game-wide performance upgrades, as well as faster load times.

We will keep working on the game to improve its responsiveness and improve the basic UI as time goes forward to ensure the game experience is the best it can be.

We have also greatly improved the Fabricate mechanic’s animation by removing the animated trail that ran from the support to its target. This greatly speeds up the use of Fabricate. As of now this only applies to Fabricate, but if needed we can add it to more Supports as well.


Bug Fixes:

Cards, Planeswalkers & Gameplay

  • A 1 to 10 minute spell casting loop occurs when Baral, Chief of Compliance is coupled with multiple low cost spells.
  • White gems are erroneously prioritized when Investigate activates.
  • A 4/4 Angel token is erroneously summoned when casting Sigil of the Empty Throne.
  • The ability fails to trigger when a multiple abilities interact with the opponent Planeswalker while Sigarda, Heron's Grace is on the battlefield.
  • Life fails to be gained when a creature with Lifelink deals damage to a Planeswalker while the Hixus, Prison Warden support card is on the gemboard.
  • The creature loses the buff when a buffed creature Transforms and reinforces another creature.
  • The last card that entered the Graveyard is returned when Possessed Skaab uses the Create Skaab ability.
  • A card fails to be drawn when a creature that has more than 4 toughness due to temporary buffs dies while Ulvenwald Observer is on the battlefield.
  • The card erroneously casts when filling the mana cost of Sram's Expertise while there are no cards with the required mana cost in hand.

UI, UX, Localization & Graphics

  • The player is unable to preview the node objectives when selecting a node in any Event.
  • Tapping on a support which is on the gem board only once does not bring its full screen view, supports must be selected twice each.
  • In the Activity Hub, when only 1 Special Offer is in the carousel, it cannot be purchased. Must be bought from the Vault.
  • The Platinum Reward prompt is missing when reaching a new Progression reward.
  • A blank reward displays when viewing the last daily reward.
  • Locked Planeswalkers in Arena events can still be assigned to the colorless node.
  • The user gets a "Something went wrong" message when they do not have enough Mana Crystals to purchase a Special Offer.
  • The player is unable to preview the node objectives when selecting a node.
  • Unable to make a purchase in the Activity Hub when only one Special Offer remains.
  • The Evergreens erroneously display when viewing the opponent's hand.
  • The top bar is present when opening packs.
  • The starter pack widget remains in the activity log after purchasing it.
  • Carousel displays empty slots when claiming a 3 card booster.
  • Avacyn's Judgment description says Repeat 2 times instead of 3.
  • The player's rank rises when additional players join an event.
  • An infinite loading screen displays when tapping the Continue button without data connection.
  • A prompt fails to display when reaching the top of Platinum Color Mastery.
  • The text "Max Level" erroneously displays when viewing the area under Nahiri's name in the Rewards Screen.
  • The menu stays open when swiping left over an option.
  • A square erroneously displays at the end of the text when viewing multiple Basic Booster Packs.
  • The top and bottom parts of the screen move independently when scrolling the bottom part of the screen up or down.
  • The text size is inconsistent when viewing the Planeswalker Ability text.
  • The leveling up audio continuously loops when the user is leveling up a Planeswalker while a Quick Battle expires.
  • The carousel displays with empty slots when the user receives duplicate cards while opening any Booster Pack set.
  • The Main Menu fails to close when tapping on the background while the Main Menu is open.
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Comments

  • shteev
    shteev Posts: 2,031 Chairperson of the Boards
    I am *so* not falling for the trap of making my mind up about any of this before I actually get to see it myself first hand.
  • Infested
    Infested Posts: 98 Match Maker
    Good job of improving the quality of life for the players. New players are more likely to find this game easy to play.

    Now with the QB change you are killing off the people that want to play the game long term. The game will likely have less retention of players with this new update combined with the last.
  • losdamianos
    losdamianos Posts: 429 Mover and Shaker
    edited April 2017
    @Ohboy discuss :wink: (the death of QB)
  • THEMAGICkMAN
    THEMAGICkMAN Posts: 697 Critical Contributor
    Agreed, it sounds nice, but I don't really want to think to much of it until it's I'm game. 
  • Gaitreli
    Gaitreli Posts: 11 Just Dropped In
    Is there going to be a new daily event then for us to play now that quick battle is being limited? I used to grind QB simply because it was a fun distraction with an added on reward while waiting for nodes to reset. As a casual player this change seems to hinder my progression more than helping me. 
  • deletedgone
    deletedgone Posts: 166 Tile Toppler
    This much is clear.  They have taken even more free crystals out of the game.
  • THEMAGICkMAN
    THEMAGICkMAN Posts: 697 Critical Contributor
    Also, thanks for the pretty pictures! We all love our pretty pictures. 
  • Nitymp
    Nitymp Posts: 320 Mover and Shaker
    So I read this and find myself decidedly underwhelmed (unsurprisingly).

    I'll probably finally load the game up again when it hits (been node-free for over 4 weeks now!! it has been glorious!!) to decide whether it will be time for a permanent uninstall or not.


  • deletedgone
    deletedgone Posts: 166 Tile Toppler
    For all my complaining - good job D3 on the Baral nerf.  Bumping up the mana was a smart move.
  • Hibernum_JC
    Hibernum_JC Posts: 318 Mover and Shaker
    edited April 2017
    Hey folks, I know it's been a while since I've been on here but I've been so busy it's been difficult!

    I just want to come here and clarify certain points that I've seen pop up in the thread.

    1- You can play as much as you want in the Training Grounds, and still earn Runes with every single victory. The main difference is that it no longer is a competitive event, but more of a place where you can go and practice and play. You can still grind Mana Runes in the mode, and you can play with any cards you want and any decks you want.

    2- I think there might be a bit of a confusion with Event Decks. Essentially, once you designate a Planeswalker to a node, you can then freely change it's assigned deck as MUCH as you want during the event. Your opponents will always play against the latest version you've made, but there are no restrictions to how many times you may edit your deck. You can change it every time you play a match, if you want!

    3- A few other things I'd like to point out that I know might get overlooked in the notes: Fabricate no longer trails animations. I know a LOT of you were complaining about this (and rightly so!) and while it took us a bit of time to fix it, it finally is fixed, so you can play with Fabricate decks without waiting for the animations to complete. The menus are not also MUCH more responsive and fast, which hopefully will give you folks a much better experience overall.

    I'll keep reading and answering what I can when it comes up.


  • Nitymp
    Nitymp Posts: 320 Mover and Shaker
    Hibernum_JC said:
     Your opponents will always play against the latest version you've made, but there are no restrictions to how many times you may edit your deck. You can change it every time you play a match, if you want!


    So still can play against troll decks then?

    Any word on whether matchmaking will be fixed or would I still just play against Killwind and Mersicide constantly? 
  • Phase
    Phase Posts: 157 Tile Toppler
    • Excited to play the new Baral. For those of us without moon it's great to be able to brew something fun with him.
    • Tentatively OK with QB removal if it means 105 xtals a week extra for only 28 games. No more sniping but that was usually the rich getting richer anyway
    • New planeswalker selection looks good on paper. Let's see how it performs in the app.
    • Master theme decks should be a fun thing to chase down.
    Thanks for your hard work, devs and all. Looking forward to seeing where we go from here.
  • madwren
    madwren Posts: 2,259 Chairperson of the Boards
    Hibernum_JC said:
    Hey folks, I know it's been a while since I've been on here but I've been so busy it's been difficult!

    I just want to come here and clarify certain points that I've seen pop up in the thread.

    1- You can play as much as you want in the Training Grounds, and still earn Runes with every single victory. The main difference is that it no longer is a competitive event, but more of a place where you can go and practice and play. You can still grind Mana Runes in the mode, and you can play with any cards you want and any decks you want.

    2- I think there might be a bit of a confusion with Event Decks. Essentially, once you designate a Planeswalker to a node, you can then freely change it's assigned deck as MUCH as you want during the event. Your opponents will always play against the latest version you've made, but there are no restrictions to how many times you may edit your deck. You can change it every time you play a match, if you want!

    3- A few other things I'd like to point out that I know might get overlooked in the notes: Fabricate no longer trails animations. I know a LOT of you were complaining about this (and rightly so!) and while it took us a bit of time to fix it, it finally is fixed, so you can play with Fabricate decks without waiting for the animations to complete. The menus are not also MUCH more responsive and fast, which hopefully will give you folks a much better experience overall.

    I'll keep reading and answering what I can when it comes up.


    Thank you for clarifying. I'm still confused on event decks. That makes it sound like you can still just put in a "non-event" deck after the initial join.

    great news on fabricate!

  • toastie
    toastie Posts: 119 Tile Toppler
    Can we get a clarification on the Baral change: Does he still give mana to spells in your hand when he enters the battlefield? If so 3 or 4?
  • shteev
    shteev Posts: 2,031 Chairperson of the Boards
    Fixing Baral's looping by turning him into 'merely' multiple Shrines and Journals every turn really does nothing to address the rampant power creep which is contributing to so much malaise in the players.
  • qubyts
    qubyts Posts: 10 Just Dropped In
    edited April 2017
    Hi @Hibernum_JC. Could you please clarify your position on the refund for the Baral nerf? I shure af wouldn't have paid for the nerfed one. Am i gonna have to go directly to google to get it?

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